An Outsider's Observations
by AdamantBee
Summary: A series of snapshots of the Tracy brothers through the eyes of other people.
1. Social Snakes and Ladders

**Author's Notes:** This selection of stories aims to show how different people interact with or view the Tracy brothers, whether they know they are the Thunderbirds or not. I thought it would be interesting to see them in lots of different perspectives and to see what people learn from them! I hope you enjoy the first chapter!

 **Chapter One: Social Snakes and Ladders**

The invite had arrived through the letter box about four months ago. Gilded lettering on expensive stationery pronounced that there would be a Charity Ball and Auction held at an expensive London hotel in aid of a well-known children's charity. The invite had gone on to announce that special speakers would include some prominent business people associated with the charity. And that tickets would start from £500 per person.

The thing with charity galas though, thought Cassandra, as she gazed around the room filled with individuals of 'high net worth' according to the invite anyway, is that many of the people here seemed to have spent far more money on themselves than on the charity they were supposed to be raising money for. Sure the ticket had cost £500 but to most of the people in the room right now that was a mere sum. Probably no more than they would spend on an evening at a fancy restaurant. The cost of the clothing in the room was likely astronomical, let alone the price of the jewellery and accessories being flaunted. Cassandra could readily admit that she often spent what was probably too much money on material belongings (often unavoidable with a mother obsessed with climbing the social ladder) but the guests milling about the room seemed to have taken it to another level. From where she was sat, Cassandra could hear snippets of conversation from the tables set out around the room. Discussions about who had the most expensive dress, suit or the highest social standing really could bore her to tears. Was there no-one here actually interested in discussing the ground-breaking new research being carried out to help produce cures and treatments for the children suffering this terrible disease?

Luckily, at the moment, the man her mother had been attempting to introduce her to (was it the son of Lord and Lady Wintermore or had it been the brother of the CEO of Gelmedia Systems Ltd.) had disappeared to find some refreshments. Cassandra knew there was a reason she usually avoided these things, but she'd forgotten quite how detestable she'd found them. She had managed to evade all attempts in the last few months of her mother to force her to attend these high society parties, but as the heiress to a vast estate, there was only so much rebellion you could get away with, thought Cassandra forlornly. Anyway, at least at this one, the speakers promised to be interesting and there was going to be some benefit to the charity, if not the amount that these people could obviously afford.

From the raised stage at the front of the room there was a sudden movement as a man walked towards the microphone set up at the front of the stage. As the director of the charity he made a quick announcement to ask everyone to find their seats before the first speaker took to the stage. Cassandra sent a quick thank you any deity that existed that she would no longer have to interact with the deadly dull man heading back towards her with a cocktail in each hand (she was now pretty sure he was in fact the cofounder of Miltech or the heir to the McGorn estate, either way, she had no wish to spend the rest of the evening with him talking about the time he got to play croquet with King William of the United Kingdom).

Anyway, once everyone had found their seats and settled down at the tables, the director gave a brief introduction about the work of the charity and then left the stage to make way for the first presentation. A few speakers later, the fundraising officer left the stage to a ripple of applause from the audience to give up the stage for the spokesman from Tracy Industries. Cassandra wasn't entirely sure what he had to do with the charity, but the man (Scott Tracy, Tracy Industries' ambassador for the charity, supplied her programme) walked onto the stage with a look of determination on his face. He certainly cut a dashing figure in his United States Air Force dress uniform and there were undoubtedly a lot of nudges and whisperings going on between the eligible young ladies in the room, and some of the older, not so eligible ladies too.

Once he started speaking however, there was complete silence, Cassandra learnt that Tracy Industries had helped to sponsor some of the research the charity had recently undertaken and he spoke about it with a passion that was so very different from the other chairmen and CEOs that Cassandra had spoken to this evening. You could tell that this was important to him and his business ideals. That Tracy Industries was there to help people, not just in the products and machines they produced, but also, as privileged individuals financially, they should help those they can with grants for research. The fact that he could talk about the research the business' money had funded in detail proved to Cassandra that he was actually interested in the progress the charity was making, reminding all those in the room of the reason why they were here. Not to mingle or to match make or to rub shoulders with potential business partners or clients, but to help.

Later that evening, after mingling with enough people to last a lifetime, her mother trying to match her with what seemed like every bachelor in the enormous function hall and her father rubbing shoulders with plenty of potential partners and clients, Scott Tracy's words came back to her, from then on, she was determined that with her wealth and status, she would try and make a difference in the world. That the endeavour to help was the most important part. After all, as he had said at the end of his speech, we should never give up, no matter the cost.

 **Author's Notes:** Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! Look out for the second chapter which should be up soon! I'd love to know what you thought about the story in a review, what I could improve and what you liked and what you didn't like! Many thanks,

AdamantBee x


	2. Turning Mountains into Molehills

**Author's Notes:** _Here I am, ready for chapter two! I know the Tracy brothers best from the new series, so I'm following their appearance, however, I see Scott as the eldest, then John, Virgil, Gordon and Alan, not that it makes a huge amount of difference! The ages I picture for them in this snapshot are Scott – 15, John – 13, Virgil – 11, Gordon – 8 and Alan – 6. I hope you enjoy this chapter, I definitely found it harder to write than the first!_

 **Chapter Two: Turning Mountains into Molehills**

Tim had made a big, big mistake. What on earth had he been thinking when he'd decided to volunteer for this fun run?! It was much too early for the noise of screaming kids on a Saturday morning. He'd had a moment of temporary insanity. That would explain it. And now he was paying the price. Tim was responsible for handing out the water bottles on the route so not only did he have to put up with listening to the children moaning to their parents that they didn't want to run any more, but he also had to do it whilst standing in the scorching heat of the Kansas summer sun. What had he done to deserve this?

It wasn't a long race, only about two miles, and all the kids got a medal and a goodie bag at the finish line so Tim supposed there was some motivation for getting out of bed early on a Saturday for the runners taking part. The faster runners using the event as a time trial had already been and gone and now was the time for the real fun runners. There were lots of families around, some parents pushing buggies with very young children, other parents trying to keep up with their surprisingly nippy offspring. Even some runners wearing costumes and looking more than a little strange.

From where he was handing out water bottles, Tim was able to see along one of the long straight sections of the course, which rose with a steady incline until they reached the water refreshment table and then stretched up a steeper hill until the route came to a corner at the top of the hill and the runners would head out of sight towards the finish which was thankfully only a few hundred yards away.

Just coming into view at the bottom of the hill was a group of five children. They almost didn't look related, with a range of different hair colours and body shapes, but they must be, if the oldest kids were staying with the smaller ones. At least, Tim thought, when he was looking after his younger siblings, it had taken a fair bit of bribing from his parents, and if it had included a running race, he would have refused point blank. It wasn't that he didn't love them, it was just that he liked to do his own thing, and they were annoying as anything when they wanted to be.

Whilst Tim had been considering this, he'd been slowing down his activities handing out water bottles and there was a small backlog beginning to build up. By the time Tim had caught up with the backlog and the next runners that needed water, the five boys had made it within earshot of the water station.

The smallest boy looked almost to be in tears, as his four older brothers tried to coax him into running a bit further. "Come on Al, it's supposed to be fun." Encouraged one of the older ones, from where he was crouching on the ground besides him. "We're all going to finish this together." He continued, but the younger one known as Al looked simply aghast as his older brothers tried to convince him that it wasn't that much further to go.

"Come on Al, why don't we have a piggy back race?" suggested the brother with the darkest hair. Al's eyes immediately lit up, and he moved towards his brother with a lot more enthusiasm than he'd shown running up the hill so far.

"You sure you'll be alright Virg? It's a steep hill." Questioned the tallest one.

"I'll be fine," replied 'Virg' (strange name, thought Tim) as he nodded. "Looks like you have a passenger too though, Scott." Virg said with a laugh. Whilst this exchange had been taking place, the other blond brother had declared the redheaded brother (John) to be too slow (there was an indignant kind of squawk at this) and then eventually clambered into place on Scott's back.

John had been allocated pit crew duties and ordered by Alan to go and collect water. Tim handed over five water bottles and watched as John returned one to each of the brothers. Once all the brothers had finished their refreshments – one of the smaller brothers had used his bottle of water a shower and accordingly left Scott spluttering at 'Gordon' in outraged tones. This turned out to be a tactical error on Gordon's part as Alan took the opportunity to gleefully yell go and Virgil (still just as strange as Virg in Tim's opinion) began to sprint up the remainder of the hill with Scott and John in hot pursuit.

On the way up the hill, as Tim returned to handing out water bottles to other runners, he could still hear the delighted shrieks of Gordon and Alan and the encouraging shouts of John from further up the hill. They certainly seemed to be having more fun now that they were working together. The older ones had supported the youngest members of the family once they had gotten too tired and the younger ones were trying in their own way to pick out the clearest path amongst the other fun runners to make sure their team of running brother and precariously perched pilot won.

From where Tim was standing, it looked like John had been waiting at the top of the hill for a while, unrestrained by a heavy six or seven year old on his back and Virgil and Scott had pretty much dead heated, but they were all running together by the time they disappeared out of sight towards the finish. Not everything was fun for everybody Tim supposed, but that family had made teamwork look like the fun part. It made everything much easier when you enjoyed being part of a team, he supposed. Maybe he should take a leaf out of their book – perhaps it had been worth it volunteering at this fun run after all.

 **Author's Notes:** _So this snapshot was supposed to convey the Tracy brothers being able to work well as a team, even when they're young! With regards to fun run rules, I think at around 15 you'd probably be able to be responsible for younger children. Maybe four is a few too many but who cares about rules hey? :')_

 _Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you thought!_

 _AdamantBee x_


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